Six on Saturday: Going…

Posted on November 2, 2024 by Cathy

BERJAYA…going…

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…going….

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…going…

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…going…

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…gone…

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Joining in with Jim’s Six on Saturday meme at Garden Ruminations, I am sharing the felling of our lovely variegated holly. I will have mixed feelings about this for some time, I expect, as it was very much a focal point, a punctuation mark in the garden. Not only was it such an iconic conical shape, but it acted as a variegated beacon throughout the year, and provided berries for birds and foliage for Christmas wreaths …BUT it periodically shed its prickly leaves which took a long time to break down, and its height and girth were beginning to have a detrimental effect on the shed. As with all trees it also cast shade, although that was never really an issue. Still, it is gone, and there is no going back.

Posted in Autumn, foliage, garden structure, Gardening, Gardens, seasonal interest, Six on Saturday, trees | Tagged | Leave a comment

Scrunching Around the Garden at the End of October

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Cathy

BERJAYADaytime temperatures here seem to have been averaging the low to mid-teens centigrade over the last couple of weeks, and not dropping much overnight, but leaf fall has certainly begun in earnest, aided today by a gentle breeze that brought a shower of autumnal foliage. With a couple of visits to family during October, plus other commitments, I have spent far less time in the garden than usual, around 17 hours instead of at least double that at this time of year, leaving me with a very long unwritten list of things that need to be done, with sweeping up leaves nearer the bottom of the list than the top.

In the meantime, any visitors to the garden will have to take it very much as they find it, with jobs half-done or not at all, so please come and scrunch along beside me, but don’t be too critical! Starting as usual at the back of the house (above), it still seems quite green and yes, that ladder is still there, unmoved since the wisteria was pruned two months ago! Adjacent to this, in the streamside grass and shrub border, the golden glow of several witch hazels is greatly reduced as the leaves begin to carpet the grass and paths instead of the plants.

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In the woodland, the perennial green ivy is in sharp contrast to the leaf-strewn path, and the view from the bothy at the end of the woodland shows shows the leaves are also beginning to accumulate in corners and sheltered spots. The main borders seen in the latter are also seen from behind the shed, the two pots of Carex ‘Everillo’ standing out like beacons with their bright green foliage.

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We turn and walk amongst the woodland edge borders, then look back as the path seems to disappear behind us.

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The grass border looks scruffy, but the two bold borders still retain a fragment of colour and are not yet ready to be cut back.

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The dahlias are probably the only plants in the cutting beds still worth cutting, although there are a few hangers-on. The working greenhouse, however, is filling up with the late colour of plants brought inside for winter protection.

 

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Continuing past the blue & white borders we come to late flowering roses in the revamped rose garden and walk between the main borders before heading back towards the house, past the obelisk border.

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Leaves are not yet falling from the wisteria on the gable end of the house, but they are turning yellow, so it won’t be long. To the left of the house, in the Coop, succulents that have spent the summer outside have returned inside, and another task accomplished during October means there are several pots of narcissus, iris and muscari under the staging.

Behind the Coop, in the Coop Corner, the border holds the promise of better things for next year, especially after the removal of thuggish Clematis armandii, but Cornus ‘Annie’s Orange’, its leaves yellowing, will be offering a colourful display throughout the winter.

That’s about it for this month, apart from the nooks and crannies you might only get to see in person. If some of you have been left behind on the way round there is a map under The Garden tab above, and aerial photographs too, to help you if you get lost.

 

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Posted in Autumn, borders, cutting beds, dahlias, End of Month View, foliage, garden structure, Gardening, Gardens, grasses, greenhouse, roses, seasonal interest, seasonal tasks, woodland | 3 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Not Perfect, But Still Pretty (and Still Fragrant)

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Cathy

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Posted in Autumn, Gardening, Gardens, roses, seasonal interest, Wordless Wednesday | 7 Comments

In a Vase on Monday: the Future’s Bright, the Future’s Orange

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Cathy

BERJAYAIn a quick post from me is a beautiful spherical glass vase, sadly red, not orange, but on the same colour spectrum as two stems of striking orange Chrysanthemum ‘Chatsworth’, a variety mentioned, I think, by fellow blogger Karen last year, and dark leaved Begonia ‘Burning Embers’. Given a bit more time (but who ever hands out time, like sweets?), perhaps I could have concocted a ghoulish Hallowe’en vase instead, adding some orange dahlias and a spider or two. Metaphorically propping up the vase is an orange leaf from witch hazel Hamamelis ‘Orange Peel’, with some intriguing gradations of colour. The title is, I believe, an advertising catchphrase from the noughties of network provider Orange, now part of EE, suggesting their future wasn’t quite as bright as they thought it would be.

If you are not already part of the IAVOM network, we would love you to comment on any of our vases or create a vase yourself from material found in your own garden or nearby, leaving links to and from this post if you do so.

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Posted in Autumn, Gardening, Gardens, In a Vase on Monday, seasonal interest | Tagged | 29 Comments

Six on Saturday, Briefly

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Cathy

BERJAYAA quick whizz around the garden provided six pleasing things to contribute to Jim’s popular Saturday meme, starting with the unexpectedly good combination above, Salvia ‘Phyllis Fancy’ and Persicaria ‘Orangefield’. I suppose it works well because they are both late flowering perennials, but in truth the salvia is in a pot and is where it is because in spring it was shoved out of the way at the back of the border because I knew it wasn’t going to perform for months. Surprisingly, especially as it is in only a 2 litre pot, it has done very well and justified being kept, which was previously doubtful, albeit in a pot and in the greenhouse over winter.

More briefly, Begonia ‘Burning Embers’ has also earned its keep, for its continuous flowering over many months. These too have remained in pots, tucked amongst other plants in the border, but could really do with more height to do themselves full justice. The begonias are back in the working greenhouse now, just in case, but the salvia can wait a little longer.

BERJAYA Also in this greenhouse are my early flowering sweet peas, a variety provided this year by Chiltern Seeds, called ‘Winter Elegance Mixed’. They say they have been told by their supplier that if seeds are sown by early August, they can even be in flower for Christmas! I am too late for that, but perhaps can try it next year. I usually soak the seeds before sowing, but forgot until I was ready to begin, with the root trainers filled with compost, so just carried on without soaking; surprisingly, the seeds began germinating within about 8 days, which is less than when they have been soaked, so that will be a permanent routine from now on!

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Meanwhile, in the lean-to greenhouse next to the house, the Coop, I came across ‘miniature’ pelargoniums earlier this year and, in my continual quest to fill the Coop with plants bought 3 plants. I am not a huge fan of pelargoniums, largely for the same reason as I am not really keen on asters and chrysanthemums, because they tend to be ugly plants – that’s in my opinion of course – but as a lover of all most things miniature, I thought I would give them a try and see if they justified their miniature status. So far, so good, so I added another three in late summer and have just pre-ordered (from specialists Fibrex) half a dozen more for spring delivery, and will ditch the handful of larger varieties I have, possibly the scented leaved ones too. This one is ‘Marmalade’ which, like the others has miniature leaves and miniature blooms as well as being diminutive in stature.

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Down in the cutting beds, a shout-out is required for Ageratum ‘Blue Horizon’, still flowering and demanding nothing from me after almost five months. I will definitely be growing this again next year and using it elsewhere in the garden too (shown alongside flopping Scabiosa ‘Snowmaiden’).

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Finally, in what is less brief a post than expected, one of the upsides of a relatively wet year is the benefit to plants that need summer rainfall to swell buds for next year’s blooms, like rhododendrons and camellias. I feel a bit of a fraud mentioning camellias in the presence of our camellia expert host, but as a complete novice I am thrilled to have buds on Camellia ‘Yuletide’ for the very first time!

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Posted in Autumn, container & basket plants, cutting beds, Gardening, Gardens, greenhouse, herbaceous perennials, seasonal interest, Six on Saturday | 19 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Mother and Daughter

Posted on October 23, 2024 by Cathy

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Posted in Autumn, Gardening, Gardens, seasonal interest, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

In a Vase on Monday: In the Nick of Time

Posted on October 21, 2024 by Cathy

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The weather yesterday was looking as if it might be too wet for even a very rapid ramble round the garden, let alone loiter with secateurs choosing and cutting blooms for today’s vase. I knew I could resort to some beautifully dried blooms of Dahlia ‘Softer Gleam’ if necessary, but hadn’t expected to be using them in October when there were still fresh blooms available. Thankfully the skies cleared a little and the rain stopped, allowing time before dusk fell to make a more leisurely choice of what fresh blooms to include.

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There are various oddments I would like to have used but didn’t have enough of, like the remnants of sunflowers and rudbeckia, and although they could have been joined by Dahlias ‘David Howard’ and ‘Softer Gleam’ on a similar colour spectrum, these have both already been well-used in vases and posies this year. Instead, I focussed, as I often seem to do, on a range of pinks, starting with other dahlias instead, D ‘Eye Candy’ and ‘Happy Single Juliet’. There weren’t any suitable blooms of the lovely ‘Dorothy Rose’, so I moved elsewhere in the garden, foraging stems of the relatively tidy and well-behaved Chrysanthemum ‘Grandchild’, long-flowering Salvia ‘Cerro Petosi’, useful Argyranthemum ‘Grandaisy Pink’ and the very pleasing Persicaria ‘Pink Elephant’. Dark foliage was provided by Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’ along with a ‘mystery’ spiky stem, added ‘just because’ – can you guess what it is? The answer will be at the end of the post!

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Placed in a white enamel jug, I was surprised at the relative success of the result, a fairly pleasing pink posy. Looking at today’s prop, a vintage money box (perhaps from the 1940s?) made from tin plate and cardboard and chosen because of the fortuitous timing of the improvement in the weather, I am reminded that, next week, time may not be money, but it will certainly be of the essence as the clocks will have ‘changed’, bringing darker afternoons and evenings – and less time, it will seem, for creating and photographing vases…it’s about time we stopped all this outdated nonsense of tweaking time twice a year!! If you can make time, this week or any other week, to join us on IAVOM, please do so by posting your vase as usual and leaving links to and from this post.

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The mystery spiky stem is the spent flowerhead of a sempervivum, temporarily rescued on its way to the compost heap.

Posted in Autumn, cutting beds, dahlias, foliage, Gardening, Gardens, herbaceous perennials, In a Vase on Monday, seasonal interest | Tagged | 56 Comments

Six on Saturday: Bloomin’ Late!

Posted on October 19, 2024 by Cathy

BERJAYAThere may not be concentrated areas of colour in the garden, but there are still many splashes to delight the eye, accompanied by a distinct change in leaf colour of the many trees. Although nights have not been especially cold, leaf fall really has begun, and some of my witch hazels are all but bare.

For Jim’s Six on Saturday meme today, I decided to focus mostly on those plants that have been flowering over a long period, starting with rambling rose ‘Rural England’ (above), which conveniently climbs into the apple trees. This was smothered in blooms in June but has never been out of flower since, and currently has more blooms than at any period since then – such a lovely shade of pink too. I will also have to mention, albeit just in passing, the numerous pots of Busy Lizzies which are only just beginning to wane.

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Similarly floriferous where they have had enough watering are Argyranthemum ‘Grandaisy Pink’. I buy these as small plugs every year and unsuccessfully tried overwintering some of them last year; this time I have taken numerous cuttings which seem to be doing well, so I will keep my fingers crossed and won’t order any plugs for next season. They are so useful in pots, either with other plants or grouped on their own.

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Phlox ‘Lilac Flame’ also needs a shout-out as it too has been flowering off and on since it began, which was probably late June or so. This clump, in one of the bold borders, was an offshoot from my original clump elsewhere, and became a good size plant really quickly. Also shown below is one of my star performing annuals, Antirrhinum ‘Liberty Classic White’, still flowering after at least four months. I like this variety as it is almost pure white, with only a hint of yellow and not the contrasting two-tone effect of many varieties. I spotted a lovely pink variety on a recent garden programme and hope to track it down for next year too.

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Clematis ‘Kingfisher’ a Group 2 variety, had also been in flower for many months, although the current blooms are more wishy-washy than the usual striking deep blue-purple. It took me a number of years to remember that it wasn’t a Group 3 variety like most of my clematis, so shouldn’t be cut back every year, and this probably explains the blooms!

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There are several late bloomers in the garden like persicaria and pots of ‘ugly chrysanthemums’ which really come into their own later in the season, but there are also some that could have flowered earlier but didn’t – like the relocated Rosa ‘Grace’, moved from a totally unsuitable spot in the edge of the shrub border to a position which seems to be suiting her better, on the fringe of the woodland edge border. It may only be a single bloom, but it’s a perfect one…

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And finally, about which I am extraordinarily excited, is evidence that one of the clematis on the pergola by the paved area is still alive and kicking. Several clematis struggled with the wet winter and an increase in mollusc activity this year; some came through eventually, although performed poorly, but I had seen no signs of activity on Clematis ‘Margot Kostner’ – until this week, that is, when I spotted numerous blooms, mingling with Persicaria ‘Blackfield’, with autumn foliage of Hamamelis ‘Diane behind. A stray stem must have emerged unseen until the flowers appeared, leaving me ecstatic…the heady joys of gardening!

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Posted in annuals, Autumn, clematis, foliage, Gardening, Gardens, herbaceous perennials, propagation, roses, seasonal interest, Six on Saturday | 16 Comments

In a Vase on Monday: Don’t Take Your Love to Town

Posted on October 14, 2024 by Cathy

BERJAYAApologies in advance for the earworm (“Ruby, don’t take your love to town”, Kenny Rogers) which has been playing in my head since I decided to cut stems of hardy Chrysanthemum ‘Ruby Mound’ for today’s vase. The flowers may be a rich ruby in colour, but it would have been more appropriate to call the plant ‘Ruby Sprawl’, amongst numerous other unbecoming names. It’s a prime example, in my mind, of an ugly plant – but then again, all chrysanthemums I have grown have been ugly in habit, however pretty their flowers are. I daresay pinching it out at an early stage in its growth might have made for an attractive plant, but we will never know, not this year anyway.

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Joining the ruby blooms are sprays of pinky red flowers from Miscanthus ‘Red Chief’, an excellent and attractive addition to the garden. I added five stems, but am now wondering if three would have been sufficient. Having placed the stems temporarily in a tall mug, it suggested that a cylindrical vase would be in order, but I didn’t seem to have anything taller than the cylindrical insert of this caged vase, but the proportions were still satisfactory. I am hoping more of the blooms, larger than the buds first suggest, will open fully in the warmth of the house.

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BERJAYAProps are not compulsory for IAVOM, but can add another dimension to the vase post as well as the vase and, to fit the title, today’s prop is a small lidded heartshaped soapstone box. There are no stories behind this box, and I can’t remember where it came from, but it does contain some teeny tiny carved elephants which featured in a previous post. How about joining us today, with or without a prop? Please leave links to and from this post so we can share the joy you will undoubtedly get from creating your own vase.

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Posted in Autumn, Gardening, Gardens, grasses, herbaceous perennials, In a Vase on Monday, seasonal interest | Tagged | 35 Comments

Six on Saturday After a Quiet Week

Posted on October 12, 2024 by Cathy

BERJAYAFor some reason or other I have done very little in the garden this week, not really down to cold or rain or other commitments, but possibly down to there being nothing that requires immediate attention. I did, however, begin sweeping up leaves (below), making a start before the main leaf deluge begins, and finally ordered early flowering sweet peas which arrived today, giving me a small task to do tomorrow. On my morning rambles, however, I have been able to admire the streptocarpus in the Coop (above), now with five of the six (not including my recently gifted plants) now in bloom, albeit some of them solitary blooms on very small plants – but they are still alive, which is a success as far as I am concerned!

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Hopefully there will be little in the way of wind to redistribute the piles of leaves around the garden before I get them bagged up – another job for tomorrow! I noticed today that the witch hazels in particular are on the turn, as shown by H ‘Diane’ in the foreground and taller H ‘Jelena’ behind it, although trees in the woodland are mostly still green. We were surprised by an early frost this week, the earliest I have recorded since I began noting the dates in my garden diary six years ago. It was light and brief, but will nevertheless have triggered subtle changes in the garden, accelerating the rate of winding down.

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One of the Golfer’s tasks for the leaner months is to redesign and rebuild the support arch for climbing Rosa ‘Strawberry Hill’, the rose bearing such heavy trusses of blooms that the branches frequently break with the weight of them. Every year there were two or three branches broken and it took me a while to work out what was happening, but hopefully the design we have come up with will prevent this happening in future. The newest break is in the centre oof the photo below:

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I like to use the culitivated form of Bellis perennial in winter and spring pots, and was pleased that Aldi stocked them this year and I was able to replace the summer bedding in the four main square pots a week or two ago. I will have to disturb them to add tulips to the pots,  but they take a little while to fill out so hopefully won’t mind too much.

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Filling out nicely, however, are carex, ferns and Helleborus niger in a galvanised bath tub that I planted up last spring (there may be a few snowdrops in there too). The container has looked good all year and required no attention whatsoever, highly recommending itself and permanent evergreen containers generally and, along with the streptocarpus, bookends a an otherwise mediocre conttributions to Jim’s Saturday meme at Garden Ruminations.

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Posted in container & basket plants, foliage, Gardening, Gardens, greenhouse, seasonal interest, seasonal tasks, Six on Saturday | 26 Comments